Quotes from Henri Nouwen

A friend is a hand that is always holding yours, no matter how close or far apart you may be. A friend is someone who is always there and will always, always care. A friend is a feeling of forever in the heart.

The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing...not healing, not curing...that is a friend who cares.

Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved.

There is nothing so important in the family as the sacred quality of the meal.

Solitude is the place where we can connect with profound bonds that are deeper than the emergency bonds of fear and anger.

The resistance to praying is like the resistance of tightly clenched fists. This image shows a tension, a desire to cling tightly to yourself, a greediness which betrays fear.

Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared.

Forgiveness changes the way we remember.

Forgiveness changes the way we remember. It converts the curse into a blessing. Forgiveness indeed heals memories . . .

Forgiveness indeed heals memories

Friends share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand.

Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines.

The leaders of the future will be those who dare to claim their irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation.

Those who think that they have arrived, have lost their way. Those who think they have reached their goal, have missed it. Those who think they are saints, are demons.